The Dark Twins
by Grey-Rain-Cloud
Summary: Sirius and Regulus Black were always seemingly at odds. One was the perfect Gryffindor, the other the perfect Slytherin. One was a blood-traitor, the other believed Pureblood ideals. Sirius hated their parents and the Dark Lord, while Regulus would do anything for their parents approval and was prepared to serve the Dark Lord. That's all changed now; be prepared for the Dark Twins.
1. Chapter 1

Part 1

"Reg?" A voice called into the darkness of his room. Regulus considered not answering it, and pretending that he was asleep. He was tired enough. It had been a long night of arguments, between his brother and his parents. They wanted him to act more respectable and one day join the Dark Lord, Voldemort's, inner circle and bring their family honour. Sirius didn't think that it was very honourable to bow down to a Dark wizard and kiss his robes.

"Yes, Siri?" He said finally, seeing no real reason to ignore his only brother. Sirius crept into the room, and sat down at the end of the bed. Regulus sat up, and could just barely make out his brothers form, and his eyes that looked strange and silver. "What do you want?" He sounded harsher than he meant to.

A shadow hand reached out, but withdrew abruptly. Regulus was mildly worried now, and frowned. What on Earth was wrong with his brother? "I've been thinking," Sirius took a deep breath before continuing. "Do you want to kill people?"

Regulus recoiled. "What—"

"Just answer the question, Reg. No Slytherin politics, no mind games, just tell me the truth and I'll do the same. This is important."

He could tell that it was important, Sirius very rarely sounded so… serious. Regulus felt his stomach drop in dread. This conversation would change things; it would determine a huge decision—or sacrifice—for Sirius. Regulus wanted to be on the winning end of this conversation, but he didn't know the stakes. He was at a distinct disadvantage. All he could do was be honest, and do as Sirius asked; drop his Slytherin side.

"No. No, I don't want to kill people."

"Do you want to torture people? Use the torture curse on them?"

"No."

"Would you enjoy raping women, just for amusement?"

"No!"

"Are you aware that that is exactly what Voldemort would ask you to do?"

"No—what! No, mother said that what he was doing was for the good of the wizarding world. To make it pure and wash away all the filth."

"The half-bloods, half-breeds, and muggleborns; the blood-traitors too?" Sirius asked delicately, as if laying a trap. Regulus started feeling unsure.

He hesitated a moment. "Yes…"

"Is the _Dark Lord_ a pureblood then?"

"Of course he is! How could he not be?"

"Why then, does he go under a false name, and hide behind others? Why does he hide behind the names of Malfoy, Nott, Parkinson, Crabbe, Goyle, and Lestrange?" Sirius had gotten progressively louder, but when he spoke next, his voice was a vicious whisper, and his eyes glittered in the moonlight filtering through the single window. Regulus wondered how in the world his brother hadn't made it into Slytherin, when he could make Regulus feel so stuck in a trap he had unknowingly helped create. "I asked Dumbledore who he _really_ is, and the name I was given was Tom Riddle. The name Riddle is not of a pureblood, so he is either a muggleborn or a half-blood. In the end he is _always_ a hypocrite."

Regulus was speechless, and he would have accused Sirius of lying, but his older brother never lied to him; was only ever brutally honest. There was really nothing that he could do though; Regulus didn't want to disappoint his parents the way Sirius had. He didn't want to be held under the Cruciatus Curse by mother while father stood by impassively as his child screamed. Regulus wasn't sure how Sirius could be so strong and stupid, but he supposed it had something to do with why he had been sorted into Gryffindor instead of Slytherin like Regulus. He obviously didn't have any self-preservation.

"What do you expect me to do? Mother and father will not accept it if both of her sons are blood-traitors." Regulus sneered, mostly to hide his fear, but also to get some sense of normalcy. It wasn't meant to be though, because unlike all of the other times Regulus had called his brother this, Sirius didn't break into a rant about how just because he wasn't a 'Pureblood bigot' like their whole family didn't make him a blood-traitor. Sirius just took a deep breath, as if restraining himself, and proceeded to tell his brother exactly the plan that he had come up with for the two of them.

It was brilliant, and devious, and foolish. It was a combination of Gryffindor and Slytherin at its finest.

"It'll be just the two of us. Just us and no one else… That all we'll need. It's the ultimate prank." Sirius said reassuringly when Regulus looked nervous.

Though Sirius didn't know it that was what swayed Regulus to his side completely. Sirius had said it would only be the two of them, which meant that his friends wouldn't be included. That was something that Regulus had missed, because before Hogwarts and before the Dark Lord the two of them had been best friends; practically twins. Regulus wanted that back, and hated James Potter—though he knew it wasn't really his fault that he and Sirius were so alike—for taking his place. Now he had a second chance.

All he had to do was go into a life endangering situation that could potentially last for years to come.


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2

Things changed very quickly after that. When it was time to go back to Hogwarts, the whole of the student body was confused with the changes in Sirius Black. They were used to the messy goof ball that was always laughing and always pranking. What they were not used to was the Sirius Black that was cold and blank-faced—one that stayed close to his brother. This new one was very much the Slytherin Black that his family wanted, even if he was in Gryffindor. He rarely smiled, and when he did, it was an icy and frigid thing. It was frost crawling on his face. His closest friends—James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew—were at first confused and tried to talk to him alone, but he stayed by his brothers side, as emotionless as ever. This disturbed them greatly.

It came to a point though, when Sirius was spending more time around the Slytherin Pureblood's, that their emotions turned to hurt rage, and did not talk to him anymore. Nobody was sure what happened in their dorm room, but since it was the Marauders, they knew it was something bad when Sirius came to the Great Hall on different occasions with bruises, tired eyes, green hair, or the worst when 'Gryffindor Traitor' had been written with semi-permanent ink across his forehead. Sirius though, only took it, and never retaliated. He just walked over to the Slytherin table, and sat down next to his brother, his robe in impeccable condition and his shoulder length black hair in a low ponytail befitting Pureblood Heirs.

By the time of their seventh year, the pranks had dwindled down and they ignored each other as best they could while sharing a dorm room. It became ordinary to see the Black brothers together, working on some secret project that the gossip mills said was probably something on the Dark Arts. They were very much wrong. People started calling them the 'Dark Twins' because they looked so alike. The only difference was their eyes; Sirius had grey, while Regulus had blue. Sirius had risen quickly, along with his brother, in Pureblood standing. They were never in the thick of any feuds, but every person in Hogwarts, including the professors knew that they would join Voldemort as two of his followers. And they did, just for a purpose that nobody but they were aware of.

After Regulus got out of Hogwarts two years after his brother, they both went to the Dark Lord and pledged their service… at least that was what everyone thought, including Voldemort. Nobody would have thought that it was all a farce; that You-Know-Who's two closest advisers had tricked him. It was unthinkable that the Dark Twins, the ones of horror stories that parents had taken to telling their children were really on the side of the Light. It was unthinkable that two so obviously bad men were innocent of all the crimes that they were suspected, but they were.

Regulus' specialty in magic was casting illusions—he became so good that he could cast some of the easier ones without his wand. Like the Dark Mark. Sirius had the most distrusted specialty in magic that he had told no one but his brother—everyone assumed that he had specialized in the Dark Arts. Sirius specialized in Mind Magic, and was able to twist the thoughts of those around him—like the thoughts of the Dark Lord.

Voldemort was arrogant, and he had become a Master at both Occlumency and Legillimency. He thought it impossible that anybody—much less his servant's—could best him in anything. He was stupid. Sirius could get past his shields—not easily, but he could—and convince his 'Master' to tell him and his brother, _his most loyal and trustworthy followers_, about all his secrets. Then, when Voldemort had divulged that he had Horcruxes, Sirius could convince him that the best place for them to be hidden—_every single one of them_—in the Black's many vaults, because they were impenetrable and the Dark Twins—his advisors that hardly left his side—were _ever so eager_ to serve.

Really, if Voldemort had not been so arrogant in his own abilities, he could have possibly ruled the wizarding world. Too bad.


	3. Chapter 3

Part 3

The Order had gotten an anonymous letter saying that there was something in the Department of Mysteries that You-Know-Who was after in the room with the Veil of Death. The letter said that he would only be going with the Dark Twins, so it was the best opportunity to take at least one of them out. Everyone believed the anonymous letter.

They had gotten countless letters for the last two and a half years from this mysterious person. At first they had only sent out a few Order members to see if the source was telling the truth—they were. After a few more times of true information, the Order had come to trust and rely on the letters. The one that had tested some of the members—James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Lily Potter—was when the letter suggested that they take a look at Peter Pettigrew's arm, and ask him where he had been going when he disappeared randomly while he was under Veritiserum—because he sure wasn't spending that time with his sick mother like he claimed. That letter had also said that he was an illegal rat Animagus.

This was when—after they had done as suggested and it came out that Peter was a spying Death Eater—everyone put trust in the letters that arrived by a nighthawk, following them almost blindly. This was stupid of them, but they were lucky enough that their 'contact' was not trying to fool them into trusting him or her just to kill them all in one go. This was also when it was a unanimous agreement that this person helping them was in He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's Inner Circle. There was a lot of worry of them being caught.

"What if You-Know-Who finds out that their leaking information to us?" Lily Potter had asked worriedly.

"I'd imagine that he'd make a spectacle of then in front of anybody he could, torturing them in front of everyone until they're reduced to madness." Mad-eye Moody had replied gruffly. "Probably get those Dark Twins in on it too. Bet they'd love that." James Potter and Remus Lupin had both flinched at this, but didn't say anything, thinking that it was the most likely possibility. Remus and James always tried to understand what had happened to Sirius Black for him to change so drastically over the course of two months. The partially blamed themselves; what if they had been there more for their ex-friend when he went home for the summer? What did his parents do to him? The other part of them hated Sirius Black for being so weak and caving into his parent's demands. They hated him, but they were not sure if they could kill him.

The whole Order arrived to the Department of Mysteries, and as the letter had told them, made their way to the room that held the Veil of Death. When they entered the room, there were three men. Two of them—the ones in black cloaks and white masks—stood slightly behind the man that was between them, presenting him as the leader. Those two were the Dark Twins; Regulus and Sirius Black. The man in the middle also wore a dark cloak, but his hood was lowered and there was no mask to be found. He was pale; his veins were black spider webs under his skin. His most striking—and most horrifying—feature would be his eyes though. They were a bloody and malicious red. He was unnatural looking. He was Lord Voldemort.

When Voldemort saw them, he smiled cruelly. His teeth were sharp, like that of a shark. "Welcome." He looked down at all of them as if they were his subjects. "I am feeling merciful today, so if you give to me the object that you are protecting, I shall leave with minimal bloodshed."

The Order was understandably confused. They were there after all because they wanted to keep him away from something he wanted, so they were protecting it in a way, but they had no idea what _it_ actually was. Mostly they had come to battle them into submission, then haul them all off to Azkaban—well, they would have, but the Dementors were on Voldemort's side. Albus Dumbledore stepped forward. "We do not have any object; we came here tonight to stop you once and for all Tom.

This got an unexpected reaction from the Dark Lord.

He turned to the Death Eater on his left, and asked angrily, "Sirius, have you given me false information?" When he got no response, Voldemort stepped closer to his follower and ripped off his mask before he hissed, "You have displeased me." Then he cast the Cruciatus. Sirius screamed in agony, and the other Death Eater—Regulus—stiffened. The Order could do nothing as Sirius was tortured; they thought that perhaps You-Know-Who tortured his own followers, but to see it and to suspect it were two completely different things.

It was harder for certain people to watch it, because they knew Sirius before he had gone Dark. James and Remus were horrified at the screams of childhood friend, and couldn't help but wonder how often of an occurrence this was.

Nobody knew how long Voldemort planned on torturing Sirius, and they never would, because Regulus had let out a long and sharp whistle—one that made several of the Order members cringing—and a nighthawk came flying down from seemingly nowhere holding a medium sized black bag. The nighthawk dropped the bag into Regulus' outstretched hand, and dropped straight onto his shoulder. Lily Potter gasped. "That's the bird that brings us the letters!"

Voldemort obviously heard this, and in his rage, turned his back on the Order and Sirius fully. "You have been helping the muggle lovers and blood-traitors, Regulus? You—" He finally caught sight of the bag, and froze. He knew exactly what it contained. He was so completely absorbed with watching the bag, he missed Sirius standing up shakily from behind, and pulling something from inside his cloak. Voldemort seemed to gather himself. "I am Lord Voldemort! I am immortal! You cannot kill me—you would know that better than anybody." He laughed. It seemed as though he had forgotten about the Order.

"Yes." Regulus said quietly. "Yes, I suppose I would." Then he threw the bag into the Veil of Death, and Voldemort gasped.

Voldemort raised his wand. "_Avada Keda—_" He was cut off abruptly.

Sirius had come up behind him, and in brilliantly poetic justice, had stabbed him right in the back.

The great Lord Voldemort had died by a muggle weapon.


	4. Chapter 4

Part 4

They—the Order—had elected to bring the Black siblings to Hogwarts for questioning—Azkaban was out, and nobody fully trusted the Ministry not to just give them the Dermentor's Kiss. To be honest, the _Order_ wasn't sure if they shouldn't just let the Dementor's have them, even though they had seen them openly defy and kill Voldemort—while they stood by and did nothing.

Both of the (ex?)Death Eaters had been brought to the Great Hall—thank goodness it was the summer; there were no students—and then they were chained to chairs.

Dumbledore cleared his throat authoritatively. "Now, you can answer honestly and we can forgo the Truth Serum, or if you choose to lie to us we will have to use whatever means necessary." He spoke sternly down to his former students. "If we believe that you are trying to deceive us, we will have no choice."

"We'll tell the truth." Regulus answered for the both of them, but Dumbledore still stared at Sirius waiting for an individual response.

"We'll tell the truth." Sirius repeated hoarsely—his throat was still sore from screaming.

"Very well." Dumbledore paused, almost uncertainly. "Why don't you tell us your story from the beginning?" It was not _really_ a question.

"Siri, you should probably start then. You started this whole thing; it was your idea." Regulus said.

James Potter jumped in before any reply could be made. "It was _your_ idea to become a Death Eater, Sirius?" He sounded incredulous and angry. He had hoped that his parents had brain washed him, but that he had finally come to his senses. Apparently he had been wrong to hope.

"No." Potter looked about ready to start yelling demands, so Sirius said with irritation, "Will you just let me tell the story, or do you want to continue to look like an idiot and waste all of our time?" When he was greeted by silence—apart from Regulus' amused snort—he sighed in relief. "When I got sorted into Gryffindor, my parents were very unhappy, my mother especially. She punished me with the Cruciatus curse. Then I didn't agree with their views on muggles and muggleborns. She punished me some more." Sirius had closed his eyes at this point, and there was absolute silence, the kind where the breathing of the person next to you sounded like a screech.

"As you can imagine, I got a bit tired of being tortured. I had an idea that I had been brooding over the whole year, but I couldn't do it alone—I needed Reggie. I had a back-up, of course. If Reg wouldn't listen to me, I would leave and be disowned—I'd go to James. My idea was to _fake_ being Death Eater's, gain status in his circle, find out all of his secrets, and kill him." Sirius looked over to Regulus and smiled. "And it worked."

Regulus rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, your brilliance is astounding, however do you do it."

"How did you fake being Death Eater's? And how did you get him to tell you all of his secrets?" Lily asked.

"You always were one of the sharp ones weren't you?" Regulus said rhetorically. "We were able to do it because of our specialties."

"You mean the Dark Arts?" Dumbledore asked neutrally. Both brothers shook their heads.

"That's not our specialties."

"What are they then?"

"Mine is illusions." Regulus said with no small amount of pride.

"And you Sirius?" James prompted, overwhelmingly curious.

"Mind Magic." He had said it emotionlessly, but he had to grin when he saw their astonished reactions.

"You-you specialized in Mind Magic?" James stuttered, and Sirius nodded.

Remus looked a bit surprised, but pushed on. "And how did those help you with fooling You-Know-Who?"

"With my illusions, I made the Dark Mark appear on our arms—so we technically didn't even take the Mark. Sirius went into his mind to make him believe that he trusted us completely. That was how we found out that he had Horcruxes—making him immortal. He had five soul pieces—Hufflepuff's Cup, Slytherin's Locket, Ravenclaw's Diadem, a diary, and a ring—but Sirius was able to _convince_ him to let us hide them in our vaults at Gringotts. That was what I threw into the Veil. Then he was mortal, so Sirius stabbed him in the back."

There was silence as everyone tried to wrap their heads around the fact that the Dark Twins weren't actually _Dark_.

"Have you been the ones sending information to us?" Dumbedore asked. It was easy to see that he was unhappy with being uninformed.

"Of course, if we hadn't, many more would be dead." Regulus whistled again, and the nighthawk—whom had flown off—came speeding over to his shoulder. "This is my familiar, Dolos. He seemed the best way to communicate. We couldn't see any of you in person, for obvious reasons." He gave everyone in the room a penetrating look, and they all knew that they couldn't be seen in person because they would not have been trusted. The Order hadn't really relieved them of their doubts either, considering that they were chained up.

The questioning continued, and some answers were verified by Veritiserum. Sirius and Regulus were checked for the Dark Mark, and it was only when all of this was over that they were freed. The brothers were escorted to Hogsmead by James and Remus—who had volunteered quite insistently. It was a quiet walk.

Just as they were about to go their separate ways, James spoke up. "Sirius… I'm sorry…" He pushed up his glasses awkwardly and coughed. "I don't understand though, if you had asked me to, I would have done this with you—" He was interrupted.

"No, you wouldn't have James." Sirius stated bluntly. "You would have talked me out of it; you're not Slytherin enough for something like this. Besides, you specialize in Transfiguration, and that would have been useless. I couldn't ask Remus either, because Voldemort wouldn't have let him in because he's a Werewolf." Sirius smiled his eyes a little far away. "When I was fifteen, I thought that it would be a great prank. I realize now of course how much more serious it was, and all I can really look back on for my Hogwarts years and say that I'm proud, is when I asked Regulus to help me instead of you." It was harsh, but Sirius had always been truthful—with the exception of when speaking to Voldemort—so he didn't feel bad in the slightest.

"Where are you going to go now?" Remus spoke up, sounding sad.

"Reg and I are going to go live in France. We have some properties over there, and not to mention not nearly as bad of a reputation."

"Are… are we ever going to see you again?" James' voice was cracked and heartbroken, and it made Sirius pause before answering.

"You're free to owl us, and if you ever end up in France, I'm sure we'll have extra space." He looked questioningly at Regulus, who smiled.

"So we _will_ see you again?"

"Of course."


End file.
